A Few Writing Tips

​        Under “The Joy of Writing” portion of my blog, I would like to list some of the writing tips I’ve gathered along the way. They are not listed in order of importance. Here we go!

1. You can edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page. Keep writing.
2. When you edit your story, take out all the things that aren’t your story.
3. Carry a notebook everywhere. Our short-term memory keeps information for three minutes. If you don’t write it down, an idea can be lost.
4. Every sentence we write must either reveal character or advance the story.
5. Don’t dream about writing. Open your word processor and write.
6. As an author, we need to know what our characters want.
7. If your story doesn’t move you, how do you expect it to move anyone else?
8. We should know everything about our characters’ backstories, but only write about ten percent of it.
9. Be careful of rabbit trails – tangents that don’t lead anywhere or make the story better.
10. Know your audience. Who is most likely to buy your book?
11. Allow your scenes to play themselves out. Don’t try to wrap up a scene too quickly.
12. No matter how wonderful your main characters are, make awful things happen to them. The reader wants to know what they’re made of.
13. Every new page you write is a small triumph.
14. Don’t make yourself the main character of your book.
15. Use description in combination with action. That way, you cut it down to digestible pieces.
16. Dig deeper into the layers of emotion surrounding a plot event. Does something in the character’s past colour the incident? What unbidden thoughts come to their mind?
17. Readers read for emotion. They want to FEEL something. Give it to them.

         That’s it for now. When I collect more, I’ll pass them along.